April 7, 2012

I Want to Make a Quilt (I Think)

Guys, I want to make a quilt. Not just any quilt, but an Anthropologie inspired quilt. Do you remember all those awesome quilts Anthropologie use to carry? Now all the Anthropologie bedding kind of looks the same, super ruffled duvets that Tony refuses to allow into our home. But they use to have really cool colorful quilts, they looked like this:

The only one I actually like is top left, the rest of these are too recent.

And like this -

Again, I'm just liking the top right one.

Why can't I find pictures of what I'm looking for!? Was it really that long ago that Anthro made bed stuff I actually liked?

The best example I can come up with is the one I own (don't worry I got it on super sale).

The green was not nearly so limey and the yellow was way more primary than they let on in the photo, but it's still quite nice. Except it's Queen sized and we now have a California King, and so it goes unused (not to mention that it's taken quite a beating since, oh say, 2007 when I got it).

Anyway, I need a new quilt, and while I like this one that they currently have for sale, I also don't want to spend $268 on a quilt that is: 1. Not even for a California King; 2. Lux will have dingy in a hot second because she's always a dirty bird; 3. Oh yeah, it's $268, and no, that does not include shams, which are $118 for a set of King or $78 EACH for Euros. Yeah, no thanks.

Hi, I'm pretty but I'm insanely expensive.

So what I'm trying to say is that I want to make a quilt except I have no idea what the eff I'm doing. Has anyone else there made a quilt? Have any pictures? I don't even know what kind of fabric to get, some of it seems so stiff, will it soften up when I wash it? Where do I find neat-o fabric that looks like it came from Anthropologie?

I was thinking of Heather Baily, but at $17 a yard I think enough fabric for a California King would probably cost me the same thing as buying one from Anthro.

13 comments:

My MIL is like, a quilter extraordinaire, and fabric stores exist here such as Affordable Fabrics where everything (yes, everything) is $2.99/yard. To me, it looks like everything you're selecting as inspiration is the stuff that fabric stores hide away in the back on discount because it looks ugly on the roll but turns into something amazing if you give it the chance - the cheap, thin stuff works great, because you're going to bat and back it anyway, and it does get softer with washing (but trying to wash our king quilt is quite a chore, so good luck with a cali king...)

That is crazy! I don't think there is anything around here that has fabric that cheap. I might just start hoarding Joann coupons or something. I figure it can't be too hard to cut out squares and sew them together, but I'm at a total loss after that. Cal kings are so annoying because you think they're bigger but they're not at all, they're actually LESS wide and just a few inches longer, so you end up with a giant person sleeping on top of you. Awesome.

I heart Anthro. I could go absolutely berserk in their shops. When I grow up I want to become a millionaire and then I could buy my own shop, and I would give you 50% discount on any quilt you wanted :-)

I have looked at Etsy, but of course tehy are very expensive (handmade things take so much time!) and I just discovered UO bedding the other day. I'm pretty excited to see what they put out, it seems similar and a little more affordable, plus it's gotten good reviews from some of my friends, which is the biggest selling point for me.